Container for sheets of carbon and typewriting paper



Feb. 20, 1968 R. v. BOWMAN 3,369,730

CONTAINER FOR SHEETS OF CARBON AND TYPEWRITING PAPER Filed March 17, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 32X 34 INVENTOR. 33 12 RICHARD v. BOWMAN ATTORNEY Feb. 20, 1968 R. v. BOWMAN CONTAINER FOR SHEETS OF CARBON AND TYPEWRITING PAPER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 17. 1967 INVENTOR. RICHARD V. BOWMAN ATTORNE United States Patent 3,369,730 CONTAINER FOR SHEETS OF CARBON AND TYPEWRITING PAPER Richard V. Bowman, Star Rte, R.D., Pottstown, Pa. 19464 Filed Mar. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 623,993 Claims. (Cl. 229-44) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This container has a cover section with walls around four sides and a bottom section having walls on three sides only, being hingedly connected along its other side to the cover. The bottom has a copy paper compartment with a flat top on which carbon paper sheets are placed. This compartment is open toward the open end of the bottom section. The cover contains a compartment, for holding letterhead sheets, also open at one end and having a fiat top. The typists collates by pulling copy and carbon sheets alternately and placing them on top of the second compartment. A letterhead sheet is then pulled and placed on top of this stack. The collated stack is now ready for yp The present invention relates to containers and more particularly to containers for carbon paper. In a still more specific aspect, the invention relates to a container for holding carbon sheets, and for collating these sheets with ribbon and copy sheets to permit their assembly prior to insertion into a typewriter.

Containers are known for holding carbon paper which are provided with means for collating, interleaving, and aligning ribbon and copy sheets in a stack, so that they may be inserted properly in a typing machine. Such known containers, however, merely hold, as sold, a supply of carbon paper. They have a cover hinged to a bottom section; the supply of carbon paper is contained in the bottom section; and the cover section is used for collating, interleaving and aligning the ribbon copy, copy sheets, and carbon sheets.

One object of this invention is to provide a container unit which will, as sold, hold not only a supply of carbon paper, but a supply of copy paper.

Another object of the invention is to provide a container which will also hold a supply of the first or ribbon cop-y sheets.

Another object of the invention is to provide a container of the character described which will constitute a simple unit having the combined structure and function of a container for a working supply of carbon sheets, of copy sheets, and of ribbon or first sheets, and including collating and aligning means for interleaving the carbon, first or ribbon sheets, and the copy sheets in an accurately aligned stack ready for insertion in a typewriting machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a unit of the character described adapted by mere opening of the container to present the carbon and copy sheets, and, if desired, the first or ribbon sheets in position in which the individual sheets may be quickly and conveniently grasped and slid into interleaved relation to form a stack.

Another object of the invention is to provide a container of the character discribed in which one section of the container serves to receive and guide all of the collated sheets into an accurately aligned stack, ready for insertion in the typewriter.

Another object of the invention is the provision of 'a container of the character described which tends to reduce to a minimum handling of the carbon sheets, thereby minimizing the chances of damage to the sheets and the soiling of the hands of the typist.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a container of the character described designed to promote variation in order of arrangement of the carbon sheets in successive stacks so as to distribute wear more uniformly among the several sheets of a working carbon sheet supply.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from the specification and from the recital of the appended claims, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a box or container made according to one embodiment of the present invention in closed, sheet-containing position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the boX or container opened;

FIG. 3 is a section on the line 33 of FIG. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional View through the box or container, taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows and showing how the carbon, first copy or ribbon sheets, and other copy sheets, are stored therein;

FIG. 5 is a similar view showing how the sheets may be collated and aligned; and

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of one of the carbon sheets.

The container shown comprises a bottom section 10 and a cover section 11 hingedly connected to the bottom section 10 along one edge thereof and adapted to enclose, when the box is closed, the bottom section 10.

The bottom section 19 comprises a rectangular base sheet 12 and rigid marginal side walls 14, 15 and 16 on three sides thereof and integral therewith. The fourth side of this section is open, that is, left unwalled, to provide a passage for sliding sheets out of this bottom section 10 into the connected top section 11.

The top or cover section comprises a rectangular top sheet 20 and the marginal side walls 21, 22, 23 and 24 are rigid and integral therewith 'and project upwardly therefrom. The bottom of the side wall 24 is taped or otherwise hinged at 25 to the adjoining edge of the base 12 of the bottom section, thus forming a hinge on which the section 11 may be swung from closed position in FIG. 1 to the open position shown in FIG. 2.

Fastened between the opposed parallel side walls 14 and 16 of the bottom portion 10' is a compartment member 30 which comprises a top portion 31 and depending integral side walls 32, 33 and 34 around three of its sides. The fourth side is open toward the open end of the bottom 10.

The side walls 32, 33 and 34 of the compartment 30 are of less height than the side walls 14 and 16 of the bottom so that the wall 31 of the compartment is below the upper edges of the side walls 14 and 16 of the bottom section. The side walls 32 and 34 are glued or otherwise secured to the insides of the walls 14 and 16 with the compartment in inverted position so that its top 31 lies below the top edges of the side walls 14 and 16. The compartment 30 is disposed between the ends of the side walls 14 and 16 and is spaced both from the closed end wall 15 of section 10 and the open end 17 thereof.

The compartment formed between the Wall 31 of the member 30 and the portion 12 of section 10 is adapted to hold sheets of copy paper, for instance. The wall 31 of this compartment forms a table or shelf on which one or more folders 35 (FIG. 4) containing a plurality of carbon sheets 37 are placed.

The individual carbon sheets 37 (FIG. 6) may be of any desired type. Preferably they are made somewhat wider than the ribbon or first sheets and the copy sheets with which they are intended to be used. They have along one lateral edge an uncoated marginal strip 38, and have one corner cut away as at 39 to facilitate handling by the typist without soiling her fingers and without damaging the carbon sheets. The uncoated portions 38 permit stripping of the carbon sheets from a stack of interleaved copy sheets when desired for return of the carbon sheets to the folder.

A ruler, pencils, a set of erasers, and/or other articles useful to a typist may be placed in the compartment 50 formed between the wall 33 and the Wall 15.

Secured in the section 11 of the box is another compartment member 40 (FIG. 4) having a top wall 41, and three integral marginal side walls 42, 43 and 44. This part 40 forms a compartment which may hold, for instance, the ribbon or letterhead sheets for a letter. A scallop or recess 46 permits ready access to these sheets. The compartment 40 is open at the end toward the side wall 22 of the section 11 so as to permit the sheets readily to be withdrawn from this compartment.

For use, a supply of carbon sheets 37 (FIG. 4) in one or more folders 35 are placed on top of the wall or shelf 31; and a supply of thin copy sheets 53 are placed in the compartment beneath this wall. If desired, there may be stored also in the compartment 40 a supply of heavier ribbon sheets 55.

In use, the typist may place the box on her desk and swing the cover 11 by means of the cord or tab 52 to open position as shown in FIG. 4 in which the open end of the compartment 31 and of the bottom 10 is slightly elevated so as to retain the sheets 37, 53 against any tendency to slide out of this section. From the stack of copy sheets 53 in the compartment 31, the typist then pulls out the topmost copy sheet 53 and places it on the shelf portion 41 of the compartment 40 with its left-hand edge against the wall 24 of the section 11. The side walls 21 and 23 of section 11 help locate the sheet. The top-most carbon sheet 37 is then grasped by its uncoated marginal portion 38 and removed from its folder and placed on top of the first copy sheet 53 and aligned along its left-hand margin with this copy sheet 53 by the wall 24. A second copy sheet 53 is placed on and similarly aligned with the first carbon sheet 37; and the next carbon sheet 37 is pulled from the supply folder 35 and similarly aligned above the second copy sheet 53. So the carbon and copy sheets are aligned and interleaved with one another until the desired number of copy and carbon sheets are in the stack. Then the first writing,- ribbon, or letterhead sheet is withdrawn from the compartment and placed on and aligned with the copy and carbon sheets, so that all of the collated sheets are precisely aligned at their sides and tops by the side walls of section 11. The stack is then ready to be lifted bodily and inserted in the typewriter.

After the typing of the sheets, the ribbon or first writing sheet and the copy sheets are gripped at the corner corresponding to that at which the carbon sheets 37 are cut away at 39; and the carbon sheets are gripped along their uncoated portions 38, which project beyond the ribbon and copy sheets. The carbon sheets are then stripped from or pulled out of the stack, thus leaving the ribbon and copy sheets. The carbon sheets are then returned to their folder 35 in section 10. It will be noted that they are returned in the reverse order from that in which they were originally withdrawn from the supply section 10, the last carbon sheet which was taken from that section being now the uppermost in the section. This automatic rearrangement of the carbon sheets tends to reduce the wear on the individual sheets with the result that they have the maximum life.

The invention will be of particular value to students, authors, and the like because in one box or container there will be contained all of the sheets necessary for typing letters and copies thereof; there will be copy sheets, carbon sheets and ribbon sheets. Moreover, there may be pencils, erasers, rulers, etc. It will thus be seen that in a very compact unit there are contained all of the necessities for typing. The mere opening of the box presents the carbons and the copy sheets, and where used, the ribbon sheets in position to be quickly and conveniently withdrawn from their holders or compartments and interleaved. The collating of the sheets is accomplished without bending or pressing against the edges of the carbons, thus reducing to a minimum handling, and minimizing the possibility of damage to the carbon sheets. Moreover, since the carbons need only be handled at their uncoated edges, there is no necessity for the typist soiling his or her hands. These advantages tend to encourage the storage and protection of the carbons in the container, where they are better protected than they would be if merely placed loosely in a desk drawer.

The box is not only capable of holding paper for carbon copies and paper for ribbon copies, but these papers can be of two different colors so that copies can be coded if desired.

Furthermore the amount of carbon paper in a box can be correlated to the amount of copy paper therein so as to assure maximum efficient use of the carbon paper, thus eliminating waste. Still further, since the copy paper, that is, the second sheets of letters, are contained in the box, this would make for their easy distribution and filing.

Moreover, while the invention has been described in connection with a particular embodiment thereof, it will be understood that it is capable of further modification, and this application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention following, in general,- the principles of the invention and including such de-- partures from the present disclosure as come within. known or customary practice in the art to which the invention pertains and as may be applied to the essential features hereinbefore set forth, and as fall within the scope of the invention or the limits of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A box for containing and collating letter and carbon sheets comprising two sections hingedly connected together to open and close the box, one section being adapted to enclose the other when the box is closed, one section comprising a rectangular base portion and upstanding walls on three sides thereof and having its fourth side open, and the other section having a rectangular base portion with upstanding walls around all four sides thereof, the three-walled section being hingedly connected along its open side to one upstanding wall of said other section at the top of said one upstanding wall, whereby, when said box is open, and rests on a support, the hinged end of said three-walled section will be elevated relative to its opposite end so that sheets may be unobstructedly slid from said three-walled section into said other section and aligned by walls of said other section with other interposed sheets to form a collated sheet stack, one of said sections having a compartment therein for holding sheets and which is of less height than the side walls of this section and which has a plane surfaced top parallel to the base portion of this respective section, and disposed below the tops of the side walls of this section, said compartment being open at one end, and being closed at its sides and its other end.

2. A box as claimed in claim 1, wherein said compartment is disposed intermediate the ends of its section.

3. A box as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is a compartment in each section, and the open end of the compartment in the three-walled section opens onto the open side of the three-walled section.

4. A box as claimed in claim 3, wherein the compartments in both sections are disposed intermediate the ends of both sections so that space is provided between the closed end of each compartment and the adjacent, opposed 5 side wall of the respective section for holding various articles.

5. A box as claimed in claim 4, wherein each compartment holds sheets, and additional sheets are disposed on the top of one compartment, whereby said box may hold carbon sheets, carbon copy sheets and ribbon copy sheets and the top of at least the compartment of the other section has a portion thereof cut away for access to the sheets in said compartment.

6 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,714,314 5/1929 Neidich 20663 1,769,719 7/1930 Smith 206-63 3,108,734 10/1963 Hewko 229-44 DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner. 

